Technical Field
The exemplary and non-limiting embodiments relate generally to radio access communication and, more particularly, to communication using multiple paths at a same time.
Brief Description of Prior Developments
The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined as follows:                3GPP—Third Generation Partnership Project        AAA—Authentication, Authorization, Accounting        ANDSF—Access Network Discovery and Selection Function        APN—Access Point Name (e.g. Elisa Internet)        CN—Core Network        DHCP—Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol        eNB—Evolved NodeB (base station)        ePDG—enhanced/evolved Packet Data Gateway        EPC—Evolved Packed Core        IETF—Internet Engineering Task Force        IARP—Inter-APN Routing Policy        IMS—IP Multimedia subsystem; network architecture and functionality to deliver IP multimedia services.        IP—Internet Protocol        ISMP—Inter-System Mobility Policy (not applicable with MPTCP)        ISRP—Inter-System Routing Policy        MCG—Master Cell Group of dual connectivity        MME—Mobility Management Entity        MNO—Mobile Network Operator        MO—Management Object        MPTCP—Multipath TCP i.e. TCP protocol using multiple transmission paths over multiple IP addresses        NAS—Network Access Server        NAS—non-Access-Stratum (such as Connection management protocol for example)        P-GW—PDN Gateway        PDN—Public Data Network, Packet Data Network        RAN—Radio Access Network        RAT—Radio Access Technology        SCG—Secondary Cell Group of dual connectivity        SGW—gateway, a serving gateway        SSID—Service Set Identifier        TCP—Transmission Control Protocol        UE—User Equipment        WLAN—Wireless Local Area Network (a.k.a. Wi-Fi)        WLANSP—WLAN Selection Policy        WLCP—WLAN Control Protocol        
MPTCP is defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for a generic Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) level mechanism that works over multiple Internet Protocol (IP) interfaces to improve throughput and robustness. MPTCP does not limit, nor guide, the use of radio access networks (RANs) for MPTCP purposes. The use of multiple radio access networks (RANs) simultaneously is a functionality which requires operational policies and, therefore, Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has specified a management object (MO) to assist the User Equipment (UE) operation in this architecture. 3GPP has not worked on MPTCP related aspects, but has assumed that the MPTCP sessions are transparent to the 3GPP system. Conventional management objects (MOs) do not include any definitions for the MPTCP use.